The Last Mobian Cahills
by TatlTails
Summary: Have you ever wondered how Tails is so good with machines? Why his parents died when he was so young? Even why he's the color he is? Well, even if you didn't, you're gonna find out, and so is he. When a mysterious vixen says he's part of some big, worldwide secret, she can't be right, right? *And don't skip this story just because you don't know much about one of the categories.*
1. The Meeting

**OK, guys. My first multi-chapter fanfic. Interestingly enough, this is the first story I came up with after I found out what fanfiction was. Luckily, I've much improved from my first draft. It's literally cringe-worthy. Well, hope you all find this interesting. And who knows? Maybe after this, you'll want to try The 39 Clues. Enjoy! PS: I'm not describing these characters in detail **_**yet**_** on purpose. They will get good description. Just a bit later.**

~**Bangs**

"Guys!" Dagger shouted as he ran into our office.

'Weird.' I thought to myself, 'It's so unlike him to lose his cool like this.'

"This is bad." The red fox stated with a look of terror on his face, "This is very bad."

He really had my attention now, as well as Fang's and Madi's. Once he could see so, he announced "The Vespers have a new recruit."

The word 'Vesper' made poor little Madi gasp in fright. I knew exactly how she felt. Fang did, too, even if I could only tell by the heavily masked fear in the blue fox's voice when she said "Well, spit it out! Who is it?"

Dagger took a calming breath, then spoke the dreaded name none of us truly wanted to hear.

"Eggman."

That made me gasp in fright. "Eggman?! W-we have to do something about this!"

"What _can_ we do?" Dagger replied, "Compared with the _Vespers_, we're nothing. To even stand a chance against them, we'd need the Master Serum, and that mission's failing terribly. We can't find any more Clues, any Chaos Emeralds, we can't even find the last Ekaterina alive! How can we make the serum without all the branches?"

"Not to mention, they have _EGGMAN_!" Fang added "Do you see how many robots he can make?"

Time to put my silver tongue to use. "I know things may seem hopeless right now, but if we really crack down, we can find what we need. I'm sure of it." I then dropped my bomb. "I have a plan. Dagger, Fang. Learn as much as you can about Eggman's robots and how to fight them. Madi, use Dagger's computer to research Chaos Emeralds. I'll find the Ekat."

Before anyone, especially Dagger, could protest, I ran out to the hangar where our plane sat. The whole gang had made it a sort of group project to fix it up. We had finally got it working a few days ago.

Just as I was about to climb into the cockpit, I heard a small voice call out to me "Wait!". I turned around to see Madi standing there, holding her chao. "How are you going to find the Ekat, Bangs?" The black fox asked, "We've been searching for a long time and haven't found a single lead."

"If I tell you, promise not to spoil the suprise?" I asked playfully.

"I won't tell." Madi assured me, "I promise."

I pulled out a newspaper from my right tail and handed it to her before getting into the plane and taking off. I didn't see her read the title "SONIC AND FRIENDS SAVE THE DAY".

After I was out of sight of our Emerald Coast hideout, I sighed. The last thing I wanted to do was drag someone into the life of a Cahill, but if I was right about this (and I knew in my gut that I was right), the last Ekaterina in existence would be exactly who we needed at this point. But still, I felt terrible even attempting to bring this one person into our plight. If I thought about what I knew he could do, though, I could steel myself for what I was about to do.

My plan was to find Sonic and ask where his friend lived, but as I passed over a secluded jungle area called Mystic Ruins, the plane began malfuctioning. All I heard was _bang-pop-shudder_, then nothing was working. As the plane lost altitude, it shook so hard that I hit my head against the joystick and blacked out.

~**Tails**

I hadn't expected anything weird to happen that day. Boy, was I wrong.

I was working around my workshop, fixing random little machines, _making_ random little machines, fine-tuning the Tornado, stuff like that, when I heard a large BOOM in my front yard. Whatever was out there landed so hard the ground shook. I ran outside to see what had happened and found a small airplane in a newly-formed crater in my front yard. I quickly headed towards the plane to see if anyone was in there.

As I neared the plane, I could see it was really old. It looked like someone had tried to fix it up, but whoever did didn't really have any idea what he was doing. I pushed that out of my mind for the time being and checked the cockpit. I was suprised to find a fox girl, maybe only a few years older than me, slumped against the joystick, unconscious. I got her out of there and brought her inside.

I laid her on the couch (yes, I have a couch in the middle of my workshop) and took the time to get a good look at her. She had green fur, close to Sonic's eye color, with thick, sweeping bangs almost covering her closed eyes. She was wearing a fuschia halter top-type shirt, the kind that had a string sewn to the middle for the straps, a slightly ruffly black skirt, white gloves and black leather boots. The fur on her muzzle, torso and the tips of her tails was white- wait, _tails?_

I did a double check. Yup, she had two tails. I had thought I was the only fox to ever have two. But here was some random girl, unconscious in my own workshop, with the same mutation that had defined me my whole life. I already had so many questions so ask her, and she hadn't even opened her eyes. Oh, wait, they were starting to open.

~**Bangs**

I woke up to find myself laying on a couch in some sort of workshop. I could see large computer monitors and odd machines all over the place. I barely had time to register that thought before I heard a boy's voice say "Oh, good, you're awake!"

I turned my head to see a young fox standing next to me. He seemed a few years younger than me, maybe close to Madi's age. He had yellowish-orange fur where mine would be green and shorter, messy bangs that stuck out funnily. He wore only white gloves and red-and-white sneakers, as you'd expect of a male Mobian. He had two tails, like me. What really caught my attention, even though it should have been the tails, was his eyes. They were the same deep aqua-blue as mine and the rest of the gang, but his sparkled with an innocent, adventurous light the rest of us were missing. Eyes like that were a sight to behold.

My attention was torn away from them when he asked "Are you OK?"

"Y-yeah, I think so." I replied, "How exactly did I get here?"

He smiled a little before replying. "That old plane of yours crashed outside my workshop. I was scared you had gotten hurt."

"Well, thanks for your concern and the save...uh..." I faltered, not knowing his name.

He saw this and said "Oh, my name's Miles Prower, but you can call me Tails."

"Well, if we're giving full names, mine is Janice Cahill. But I go by Bangs." I stuck by hand out to shake. "Nice to meet you."

Tails took it. "Likewise. So, do you know how your plane crashed?"

I chuckled a little. "Do I look like a mechanic? I just heard a weird noise before everything stopped working."

"Why were you flying over Mystic Ruins, anyway?" He asked, "People barely ever fly over this area."

The whole time, my head was still slightly groggy, so it didn't click until then. "Wait. You said your name was Tails?"

"Yeah... Why?" He asked

"I can't believe my luck!" Was my reply. "I was looking for you!"

**And there you have it. Chapter 1. Tell me what you think. Compliment me, give me advice, or even tell me how horrible it was (as long as you tell me why so I can fix it). I reeeally want to make a full story for this, so unless tradgedy strikes, expect this to be finished someday. And if someone could give me advice on how I should space my chapters, 'cuz I've got through chapter 6 already written, I'd appreciate it. But for now, TatlTails out. PEACE!**


	2. The Backstory and the Fire

**I couldn't wait any longer! I had to post Chapter 2. Even though I know not many people read it so far. But whoever is going to read this, enjoy! And if you're clueless (O.o pun not intended) about 39 Clues, this chapter should be a big help.**

~**Tails**

"Wait, me?!" I asked. "Why on Mobius would you need me?"

Bangs averted her eyes and muttered "Oh, boy, how do I explain?" under her breath. She turned back to me and asked "Do you know your family history?"

"No." I answered, feeling my tails droop. It was a sensitive subject. "I don't even remember my parents. They died or left or something when I was just a baby. I was living on the streets until Sonic found me."

"Oh, I'm sorry..." She put a hand on my shoulder. We were silent for a few seconds, then she said "I guess I'm gonna have to tell you the long version. I come from a... complicated family. It might be best to start at the beginning." She gestured for me to sit on the couch next to her, so I did. I had a feeling this would be a long story.

"Five thousand years ago, an old fox named Gideon Cahill was working to develop the cure for any illness. In his studies he found something much more. A recipe to a serum that strengthened the body, as well as three facets of the mind: cunning, creativity and invention. He tested his first recipe on himself, but it was incomplete and slowly began poisoning him. He did, however, create four serums that sucsessfully strengthened one characteristic each. He gave one to each of his four children, as well as the ingredients to them, instructing them to protect both. All of the serums gave the consumer amazing abilities, as well as a side effect of changing their fur color. His son Luke's fur turned red, his son Thomas' fur turned blue, his daughter Jane's fur turned green, and his daughter Katherine's fur turned orangey-yellow. His own fur turned shining white.

Just as he perfected the Master Serum he had used on himself by using the Chaos Emeralds, his traitorous best friend, Damian Vesper," She shuddered at this name. I admit, the name sent a cold feeling down my own spine, though I couldn't quite tell why. "came to steal the recipe. Gideon knew the world would be doomed if a man as evil as Vesper had that power, so he blew up his own laboratory, taking his life and research with the flames.

His wife and children were able to escape the fire, but a misunderstanding turned the children against each other and they went their separate ways, leaving their mother alone, pregnant with a fifth child. She instructed her daughter to make sure her siblings forgave each other before they figured out the recipe to the master serum. It became the girl's life mission, as well as her descendants', just as creating the master serum became the goals of the other four children and _their_ descendants.

They created five different secret societies, or 'branches', spreading throughout the world. The Lucians, who have the cunning serum in their DNA, the Tomas, who have the physical serum, the Janus, who have the creative serum, the Ekaterinas, who have the inventive serum, and the Madrigals, who have no serums, but have all four traits at a much lower level. They're the ones who kept the other four branches from figuring out the recipe. For the longest time during the war between branches no one knew there was a bigger enemy behind them all.

After they made peace, however, all five branches began noticing their numbers dwindling. The Vespers were seeking their revenge. A society of hitmen, hiring the evilest, most insidious beings ever born, the Vespers would stop at absolutely nothing to reach their monstrous goals. They killed off Cahills one by one. Murders far and wide were reported, untill only one family in each branch remained. The parents each had one child before they, too, succumbed to the Vespers' wrath. The last event recorded happened only less than a decade ago. I am the last member of the Janus branch, and I believe you are the last member of the Ekaterinas."

~**Bangs**

Tails was silent for a minute, then said "And how do you expect me to believe all of this?"

I was dejected. I went through all the trouble of telling him that epic story and he doesn't believe me? OK, time to dig deep here.

"For one, look at all this stuff you made." I started, spreading my arms out. "I know you made it. Ekaterinas have inventing and technology engraved in their DNA. There's no way a kid your age could be this smart if you weren't an Ekaterina."

"Thank you for the compliment," Tails said, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "But I'm just smart. It's not some big, crazy thing."

"Well, look at us!" I continued, gesturing to him, then myself. "Even if you don't believe the Cahill stuff, there is no way we can't be related in any way at all."

"Now, _that_ I could believe." Tails retorted, "It's the secret societies, magical serums and mass murderers that seem far-fetched to me."

"I swear, I wouldn't lie about this stuff." I assured him, "I wouldn't even tell you any of this if me and my friends didn't need your help really badly. The Vespers Have recruited Dr. Eggman. He's a _lot_ more dangerous with their help. The Vespers would find you and kill you just because of what you look like. If I'm convinced you're a Cahill, they'll definitely think so, too. Me and the other last Cahills have been working on a plan to stop them, but we need your help desperately. Please, Tails. Please come with me."

I let him think it over. It was a lot to ask of someone. Just then, I smelled something in the air. I sniffed harder and realized what it was. Smoke. I turned around and saw orange and yellow flames creeping up the walls of the workshop, spreading quickly. "Tails! Your workshop is on fire!"

"What?" Tails turned to the wall on fire. "The sprinkler system should have worked by now!" His eyes widened as he looked around. "We need to get out of here. The system's been tampered with. This fire was set deliberately!"

This was my fault. I just knew it. I must have somehow led some Vespers here. I _knew_ telling him would just get him in danger! And now I couldn't find any way to help him. The whole workshop was burning now. The doors were blocked, the windows were surrounded with red hot metal, Tails' plane was- hold on, _plane?_ Tails just pushed a button and a whole section of the floor rose to the ceiling, revealing a blue biplane underneath!

He jumped in the cockpit and yelled "Get in, quick!"

I wasted no time doing as he said.

After I was in, he started pressing buttons so quickly, I couldn't even keep track of his fingers. A hangar door opened in front of us. He turned to me and asked "You ready?"

I nodded, though I was thinking "Are you?"

The plane lifted in the air and we flew away from the remains of his poor workshop.

**There's chapter 2. Please, if you're reading this story, leave a review. I want to know what you people think. If you hated it, tell me why so I can get better. If you loved it, tell me why so I can keep doing it! I appreciate anything you guys could say. Even flames! They make me laugh. But I digress. No matter what you do, I hope you at least enjoy reading this. TatlTails out. PEACE!**


	3. The Filler and the Explanation

**This is my first filler chapter! At least, I consider it filler, but it actually has some kinda important stuff in it. So it's not really filler at all. **

**But there were a few things that I didn't mention in Chapter 1 OR 2 like the idiot I often am. So, 1, this story will all be in 1st person POV. It will usually alternate between Tails and Bangs (duh by now), BUT there will also occasionally be Sonic's POV. Very rarely. **

**And I never added a disclaimer! *ahem* I do not own anything I write about, unless I specifically point out that I do own it. Example, I DO own Bangs. I DO own the idea of Cahills on Mobius. And I DO own the idea presented in this chapter. Without further ado, enjoy the chapter!**

~**Tails**

I flew along numbly, thinking about my poor workshop. That place was more than just a workshop, it was my home. It had all my inventions inside. Not even Eggman would dare burn it down. I think he respects my inventions too much. At least I was able to save the Tornado. But that technically wasn't even mine. It was Sonic's.

"Stop it, Tails." I thought to myself. "You can always rebuild them. It'll take a while, but it's possible."

After I snapped myself out of my depression, I remembered I had a passenger. "So, Bangs." I turned to her. She was looking out the window. "Where should I bring you?"

She looked up at me and said "I live near the cliffs of Emerald Coast. It's a bit of a secret, so I'll just point out the spot when we get close."

I turned back and we were quiet for a minute. Then I heard Bangs speak up "I'm sorry."

"For what?" I was confused. She had nothing to be sorry for, in my opinion.

"I must have led the Vespers to you when I came to your workshop." Her voice was shaky. "I'm sure they were the ones who burned it down. You didn't even make your decision yet and now there's no turning back. This is exactly what I didn't want to happen. I'm so sorry."

"There is nothing for you to be sorry for." I said gravely. "You didn't burn down my workshop. You didn't give birth to me. Like you said, those- what did you call them, 'Vespers'?- would have found me sooner or later. At least I have an idea why someone would want to burn down my house."

I turned back to her. She was smiling. I think there were even tears in her eyes. "Thank you, Tails." She wiped her eyes, confirming my tear theory. "There's an extra room in our hideout. You can stay there as long as you'd need. I'd love having you, if you'd like."

I didn't have anywhere else to go. Neither Amy's or Cream's houses had any space, and none of my other friends really owned houses. This girl was trying to offer hospitality and we apparently were related. I was still suspicious of all that Cahill stuff, but she was nice enough.

"Sure." I told her. "I'd like that. Thank you."

After that, we rode in silence.

~**Bangs**

I got busy thinking how I'd design Tails' new room. I'd have to figure out his favorite colors, find some extra furniture, etc. As I was lost in these types of thoughts, I heard Tails ask "Can I ask you something?"

I decided to play around a bit, lighten the mood. "But you just did!"

"Ha ha. Very funny." Tails said dryly.

I started giggling. "OK, go ahead. What do you want to know?"

"I was going over your story in my head," he started "and something keeps catching my attention. You said the serums gave the consumers amazing abilities, but you also said the serums were in their descendants' DNA."

"Right..." I prodded when he fell silent, looking like he was trying to think it over mid-question.

"If I were an Ekaterina, wouldn't I have amazing abilities as well?" He continued, "The only real ability I have is using my tails to fly, and that came through training, not superpowers or anything."

"Well," I hoped I could explain this right. "The serums have two levels, of sorts, to them. The first, which is active since birth, simply enhances their specific facet by a great deal compared to normal people. The second is inactive until it's unlocked with a Chaos Emerald's energy. That is the part that has the superpower-like abilities. I'm afraid I don't know what kinds of abilities an Ekaterina would have."

"But I've used Chaos Emeralds before!" He returned, "I've even turned Super!"

"Did you know you were a Cahill then?"

"I don't even think I am now!"

What? After all that, he still didn't believe he was a Cahill? This kid was impossible!

"Hate to break it to you, but you are." I said. "If you want a DNA test, we're gonna need one from you anyway."

"I'll do whatever I can to help you out. I just don't think I'm from this crazy, superpowered, secret society family."

I dropped it after that. I wanted him to believe what he did for as long as possible.

We finally made it to Emerald Coast a bit later. I pointed out the secret cave entrance and he landed inside our hangar. I told him to wait outside to make my announcement more dramatic. I ran inside, slammed the door to catch everyone's attention and simply stated "I found him."

**OK, this chapter is one of my shorter ones, I'll admit. That's why it feels like filler to me. But I left you a good cliffhanger, right? Again, tell me anything you didn't like. If you wanna make me laugh, give me a flame. PS, last night I got over a STUPID Writer's Block for this story, and I'm very happy today! That's all for now. TatlTails out. PEACE!**


	4. The Introductions

**New chapters 2 days in a row! I'll try not to do this often, or else I'll run out of story too quick. But I just couldn't wait to put this one up. **

**Disclaimer(or rather, claimer): I DO own Dagger, Fang and Madi, as well as anything else I already said I owned. I do not own anything else. Enjoy!**

~**Tails**

I waited next to the Tornado like Bangs asked while she ran into a small house built in the cave we had landed in and slammed the door. A few seconds later I heard excited screaming. After a minute or so, it died down and she came back out with three other two-tailed foxes. There were more?! This was another blow at my doubt. One had red fur, one had blue, and one had black.

Bangs ran up to me and put an arm around my shoulders. "Go on!" She said, "Introduce yourself."

"Uh, hi." I waved. "My name's Miles Prower, but my friends call me Tails."

The red fox walked up to me first. He looked almost exactly like me. He looked a few years older than Bangs. His bangs, unlike mine, were neatly combed down. He wore black dress shoes, white gloves and a black blazer. The look in his eyes reminded me a lot of Shadow.

"Very well, then, Miles Prower." Was the first thing he said. I frowned at that. "You may call me Dagger."

Bangs apparently didn't like his attitude either, because she glared at him and said "His real name's Winston Cunningham."

He _really_ didn't like that. He glared daggers at her (huh, maybe that's how he got the name), then turned to me and growled "If you ever call me by that name, I assure you I will not hesitate to inject you with an untraceable, powerful poison that will kill you so swiftly and silently, you won't even know it's in your system until you're already dead."

I involuntarily took a step back. "R-right. Dagger. Got it." It was official. This guy scared me.

To my relief, the blue fox came up behind him, grabbed his shoulder and pulled him away, saying "Lay off the kid, Dagger." She stepped in front of him and shook my hand rather hard. She looked maybe a year or two younger than Dagger, still older than Bangs. Her fur was almost as blue as Sonic's quills, although her fur was more of a frosty blue than cobalt. The fur on her head was in a long braid down her back. She was wearing a camouflage tank top, cargo shorts, white gloves and mud-splattered sneakers. She looked strong enough to beat Knuckles in a fight, which, in case you didn't know, is _REALLY_ strong.

After she shook my hand, she said "I guess I'll give you my full name, too. I'ts Clarrise Manning, but that's way to girly for me. Fang fits me much better." She grinned and pointed at her canine teeth. Sure enough, they were longer than even a fox's usually were, making them look like fangs. "Well, that's all I got to say. See ya." She turned around, waved once and walked back into the house, Dagger close behind.

The only ones left were me, Bangs and the black-furred fox. She seemed about my age, maybe a little younger. The fur on her head was long and hanging around her lowered face. She was wearing a pink sweater, faded jeans, white gloves and plain white sneakers. It was obvious she was shy, so Bangs walked up to her and talked to her. They both came back a minute later, Bangs' arm around the still-mystery fox's shoulders. "This little bundle of joy next to me is Madeline Black." Bangs spoke up for the girl. "But we all call her Madi."

The newly-deemed Madi looked up barely enough to see me and stuttered out "I-it's n-nice to m-meet you.'"

She looked so scared, so I gave her a reassuring smile and said "It's nice to meet you, too." She calmed down considerably.

Now that I had finally met everyone, Bangs led us inside. She spread her arms out and said "Welcome to our humble abode!"

~**Bangs**

I watched Tails look around our house. I knew it wasn't much. Plain walls, low ceilings, no windows. We lived in more or less a dugout, honestly. There was our main room. The left half was a living room with couches, a flat screen TV, a Wii, etc.. It was pretty cool.

The right half was split into five little offices. Back to front it went: Dagger's research center, which consisted of a plexiglass desk (he insisted on plexiglass. Said it made him seem cooler. Whatever.) topped with six flat-screen computers always looking up different things. Dagger was sitting in his little plexiglass chair, researching who-knows-what.

In front of that was Madi's area. All she had wanted was a cozy armchair and a good bed for her chao. I insisted on getting the coziest chair in existence because she deserved it. She was curled up in the chair with her chao at this very moment. They looked so cute.

Anyway, the area in the middle was my desk. I got one of those adorable old-fashioned desks and piled it high with papers, paints and any other art supplies you could think of. My precious iPod and my headphones sat on top. Anyone who knew me knew not to mess with those or suffer greatly. I could come up with some _good_ torture... heh heh heh... Oh! Sorry.

In front of my desk was the area we had set aside for our Ekat, whenever we found him or her. Unfortunately, it was pretty bare. We had decided to keep it simple until we found them. What was there for now was a metal workbench with a few parts and tools we had found at the dump. It looked pretty sad. I felt a little embarrassed having only that to give Tails for an area, but at least it was something.

The area in front was Fang's. It had the feel of a gym, with a punching bag hanging from the ceiling and racks of weights leaning against the walls. A nail was on the wall where Fang usually hung her boxing gloves, but they were on her hands now while she was whaling on the punching bag. That was what she did when she needed to think. I always wondered what she thought about in front of her punching bag. She never really tells anybody what's going on in her head.

We had a small, simple kitchen to the left of the living room and a hallway in the back with five little bedrooms and a bathroom. That's right. We all share a bathroom. I'm ready for the pity rain. Go ahead. I'll wait.

That's enough pity. Back to the story.

I watched Tails look around, taking everything in. He was so sweet. He said it was a great house. I knew he had to be lying, but he was being so polite, so I thanked him anyway.

He looked at Dagger for a second before turning back to me and asking "What's Dagger doing on those computers?"

"Good choice asking me instead of him." I replied. Dagger does _not_ like being interrupted on the computer. Espescially when he's playing World of Warcraft. I looked over at the screens. "He's researching Clues."

Tails got a weird look on his face. "Clues?" He asked. "Are we solving a mystery now?"

"No, no, no!" I almost started laughing. "Clues are a nickname for the ingredients to the Master Serum. Our plan is to make the Master Serum so we can be strong enough to defeat the Vespers once and for all, but most of the ingredients were lost over the years. We need to find the last ingredents in your DNA. At least they should be the last. Then we need the Chaos Emeralds to finish the recipe."

"That shouldn't be hard." Tails said, "But I still don't think I have the magic ingredients you want in my DNA."

"That again?" I facepalmed. "Guys! We need a DNA test on this kid, STAT."

**There you have it. In case you're wondering why all 4 of my OCs have the lame-name-plus-nickname schtick, I came up with the names before I was aware of Mary-Sues and couldn't bear to change them. But I came up with a story-canon reason for it, that I will try to work in later. **

**Also, I made a poll! So far, which of these OCs is your favorite? Believe it or not, this is not just for kicks. This'll help me decide how to write my later chapters. The poll will be open until I post Chapter 7. That's all for now. TatlTails out. PEACE!**


	5. The Test and the Verdict

**I'm an idiot. My poll is up on my profile **_**now**_**. Anyway, happy Labor Day, anyone who's actually reading this **_**on **_**Labor Day. **

**Claimer: I DO own Madi's chao. **

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own who/what it's named after. If you know what it's named after, tell me in the reviews. You might just get cookies. **

**Anyway, last thing. I should've mentioned this last chapter, another guess! I'm overloading you with guesses(please don't think I'm obnoxious). I chose the foxes' names for specific reasons. If you can tell what they are, you will most definitely get cookies, and even a mention. Welp, enough of my chatter. Enjoy!**

~**Tails**

We got started with the test immediately. I wanted to prove them wrong. And convince myself. I was starting to think they might be right, and it was scaring me.

Fang got a sample of my blood, fur, skin and spit, as well as Madi's for comparison. I was suprised how professional she seemed at it. She knew how to work the syringes and everything. The samples were loaded into a special analysis chamber in Dagger's computer. A loading screen appeared and Dagger swiveled his chair to face us.

"Don't just stand here!" He snapped. "It takes a while to analyze everything. Go about your business."

We all backed away and let his computer do its work.

Fang went back to her punching bag, Madi curled back up with her chao, and Bangs grabbed her iPod, put in the headphones and sat at her desk, drawing something. Madi seemed the least busy, so I decided to try and get to know her better.

She watched me come up to her with a look that had curiosity mingled with the fear this time. It didn't seem like she'd start the conversation, so I did.

"That's a cute chao you have." I nodded my head toward the chao in her lap. It was true. The chao was pretty doggone adorable. It was yellow and orange, with a little sun-shaped mark on its stomach.

"Her name's Funshine." Madi said so quietly I could barely hear her at first. She bent her head down to look at her. "She's my best friend. She's been with me as long as I remember. She means more to me than anything, besides the guys." She nodded her head toward Bangs, Dagger and Fang. She seemed to gather her courage before looking at me and asking "Do you have a chao?"

"No," I replied "But a friend of mine, Cream the Rabbit, does. His name's Cheese. They're best friends, too."

That led into a lengthy discussion about a variety of things, mostly Sonic and my other friends. Just as I was telling her about the time we met Shadow, Dagger called out to everybody "The test's almost done!"

We all gathered around the computer again and waited the last little bit before the test was complete.

~**Bangs**

We all watched the moniter, anticipation clearly written on all of our faces, Tails' mingled with doubt. After several seconds or forever(hard to tell, really), the little bar on the screen finished loading and the verdict was declared.

"CAHILL MATCH CONFIRMED."

Tails gasped so loudly he could be heard over the joyous screams of all four of the rest of us.

We all quieted down when the computer continued. "BRANCH: EKATERINA. LINEAGE: ROSE AND AMADAEUS PROWER, KILLED BY VESPERS APPROXIMATELY 9 YEARS AGO. POWER STATUS: INACTIVE. CANNOT DETERMINE ABILITIES."

Tails pushed past all of us to get to the computer. He gripped the desk tightly as he stared at the screen with a hungry look in his eyes. I could see what line he was looking at. It was the line about his parents. Poor kid. That was probably the first information about his family he had ever gotten before in his life. Just their names, and the fact that the Vespers killed them.

He stood there for another minute before turning around to the rest of us with a fire in his eyes. "That's it." He forced out through clenched teeth. "That's the _last. straw._ Those Vespers are gonna _pay_._ Big time. _Not just for burning down my house. _Not_ just for killing my parents. But for killing hundreds upon _thousands_ of people for revenge over something stupid! They _will_ be stopped. Especially if I have anything to do about it."

I was astonished at his eloquence. I started clapping at the speech so good a Janus could've written it. The others soon joined me.

The applause extinguished the fire from Tails' eyes, leaving a sheepish stance, a nervous grin and a hand scratching the back of his head.

"S-sorry about that." He muttered. "I... guess I got carried away."

"Nonsense, Miles." Dagger patted his shoulder once as he walked to the computer. "That was a fine speech." Again with the Miles thing! He's being such a hypocrite.

He plunked a few keys into the computer and shouted "Ah ha!" We all gathered around the computer again to learn the ingredients in the serum in Tails' DNA. "Hydrogen, silver, mercury, uranium, water, phosphorus and myrrh." Dagger read aloud for us. "That's it."

"That's it?!" Fang interjected. "That means we only have 28 Clues! There has to be more!"

"Wait, what?" Tails asked. "_28_ and you still don't have enough?! How many of these Clues are there?"

"39." I said, keeping it simple.

"That's a long recipe." He breathed.

"How are we going to find the rest?" Madi asked quietly.

"Well," Dagger said, "I could search through old Cahill databases and documents, but that would require extensive research if we don't want to look for Clues we already know."

"Would you, please?" I asked, my best cute face on. "It's our only option left."

Dagger sighed. He could never refuse my cute face. I've met very few souls who could. "Very well." He said, sitting back in his chair. "You all should find something to do with yourselves. I'm going to be a while."

**Surprise! Tails is a Cahill! I bet **_**none**_** of you saw **_**that**_** coming. In all seriousness, though, If you are reading this, please review. I'm still really new to FanFiction and crave feedback and advice. I accept anonymous reviews. I feel like no one's reading when no one reviews. I'm gonna cut myself off right now before I go into a full tangent. Anyway, even if you don't review, I still hope you enjoy this story. Reviewing just lets me know. ANYWAY. I'll stop now. TatlTails out. PEACE!**


	6. The Research and the Powers

**I'm an idiot. I keep forgetting to mention things in the chapter they're supposed to be mentioned in. **

**Anyway, what I wanted to say is even though I named Tails' parents Rose and Amadeus(I think it was supposed to be Rosemary, actually.) and I'm making Tails 10(if you look at my profile, you can decipher it from Madi's age.), this is NOT the Archie universe. It's technically the game universe, but I can use any little things I want from other continuities because that's how I roll. I just wanted that clear in case you expected Scourge or New Mobotropolis or any of that junk I have no real knowledge of.**

**One more thing before the chapter starts, I have a guessing game for you guys! Whenever Bangs sings a song, I'll give hints to the song, but not name it, and you guys guess it. This first one I made insanely obvious, but it's technically the start of the 'game', so I'm putting this up. Later songs will be harder. Anyway, enjoy!**

~**Tails**

We all dispersed, Bangs putting her headphones back in and plopping on the couch, Fang reading what looked like a textbook (I didn't ask her. She seemed like she didn't want to draw attention to it.), and me and Madi resumed our former conversation. She luckily could tell I did not want to dwell on those recent events.

This went on for a while, until Bangs started bopping her head really fast to some song that had started on her iPod.

Fang had somehow noticed this and shouted "Code Bangs! Everyone plug your ears!" She did so, as did Dagger (stopping his research to do so), Madi and even Funshine.

I didn't, because I had no idea what was going on. Fang saw and shouted "Hurry! Before she starts-"

Bangs broke into song.

"Singing."

I didn't get why they all had plugged their ears. Bangs had a really nice voice and the song was catchy. I remember the first two lines.

_Take off at the speed of sound._

_Bright lights, colors all around._

Then things got fuzzy. I felt light headed and I'm pretty sure I was hallucinating. The stuff I was seeing reminded me of the time me and Sonic saved the Wisps from Eggman's amusement park. Then everything went black.

~**Bangs**

I was just listening to my iPod, singing along to a good song, when I got slapped in the back of the head at the first big pause in lyrics. I sat up, turned around and saw Dagger glaring at me with his arms re-crossing.

"What was that for?!"

"That." Dagger pointed over near Madi's chair. Tails was laying there, unconscious.

I looked back at my iPod and realized what song I had been singing. "Oh, crud!" I vaulted over the couch and ran to where he was. I skidded on my knees and stopped right next to him. If I weren't so worried about him, I would've shouted "That was AWESOME!".

He woke up just as I got to him.

"Ugh." Was the first beautiful sound to come out of his mouth. "What happened?"

"I'm afraid... me." I said. "I'm so sorry. I should've warned you."

"What did you do?" He asked. "All I remember is you started singing, then I got lightheaded and passed out."

"You know how I said we Cahills have amazing abilities? That's one of mine. Depending on what song I sing, my voice affects people in different ways. That song tends to make people hallucinate and pass out. It kinda stinks, though. It's one of my favorites."

"That would've been nice to know." Tails rubbed his head and started getting up. "Y'now, now I've been proven wrong on every point you presented me. Superpowers. Secret societies. Mass murderers. What has the world come to?"

I chuckled. "Hey, look at what this means. Once we find a Chaos Emerald, you can get superpowers, too! Unfortunately, they're almost impossible to find. We've been trying to find them ever since we formed this group and still haven't found one."

"They aren't that hard to find." He said almost indignantly. He almost looked confused. "Sonic uses them a lot when Eggman's got a big plot brewing. I've made several Emerald Radars to help track them down."

My eyes widened. I admittedly started squealing and gave him a quick hug. "Oh, Tails!" I said, relieved. "You have no idea how much easier you just made all of our lives!"

"I hate to say this," He cut in. "But my radars were in my shop."

He must have seen my sad face, because he said "No need to be sad. I can always build a new one. It might take a while, but if I can get the right parts, it shouldn't be too long."

"That's great!" I said. "I'll make sure you get everything you need and more. That little area with the table over there is for you." I pointed to the workbench. "You can trick it out however you want. You can have whatever you need."

"Thank you." His tails fluttered around and he smiled. Probably at the thought of getting a new workshop, however small.

Me and him set out for his plane and let everyone know we were headed for the dump. Before we could set off, Dagger interrupted us.

"Before you go," He said. "I want to tell you what I found so far. Aparrently, when Gideon tried to just combine the four serums into one, some of the ingredients reacted violently to each other. That's what caused his poisoning. He needed some extra ingredients he called 'balancing' ingredients to counteract the violent reactions. That's why there's more ingredients than what's in our DNA. I still don't know what they are or how to find them, but it's a start."

"Great job, Dagger!" I congratulated him. "Keep it up and we'll have the Clues in no time!"

Me and Tails got in the plane and set out for the local dump.

**In case you're wondering why I gave that song that power, thank Shadow759. Although I made it more K+ than what he said... Anyway! I still need poll votes, and reviews. If you read this story, spread the word on it. I'm sure later today, I'll think of something I was supposed to say here (3. But I'm drawing a blank now, so TatlTails out. PEACE!**


	7. The Brother and the Prank

**Whaddaya know, I forgot something XP. I wanted to ask anyone reading this story if they would want to be my story artist, for just this one or future titles. If anyone's interested, draw something, post it somewhere and PM it to me. Simple as that. But without further ado, here's Chapter 7. Enjoy!**

Sonic

I was just running around, exploring, when I remembered I hadn't checked up on Tails in a few days. I figured now was as good a time as any, so I turned toward Mystic Ruins and sped off.

As soon as I got to the workshop, what I saw shocked me to a standstill. There was no workshop. All that was there were charred remains of who-knows-exactly-what, burned black. My eyes widened. "Oh, no. Tails!" I shouted as I ran to the wreckage.

I dug through every bit of rubble, searching for any sign of my bro. I finally pried open the hatch where he kept the original Tornado and sighed in relief. It wasn't there. That meant he had used it to escape. So he's OK. Phew.

I paced around, trying to figure out where he would've gone. "OK, the kid's workshop just burned down, what's the first thing he'd do? Well, he'd probably wanna start _re_building as soon as possible. So he'd need materials and stuff. Where would he go to get junk like that..." An imaginary light bulb appeared over my head. "The junkyard!" I ran to the nearest one faster than sound.

Before I had even gotten within hearing distance of the junkyard, I was shouting "Tails?! Lil' buddy?! Please be here!" As I ran inside the gate, I saw the white tip of a tail slip behind a pile of junk.

"Tails?" I asked, just to be sure. I thought I almost heard whispering, but it could've been the wind.

After a minute or so, someone slowly shuffled out from behind the pile, their body language screaming embarassment. My mind immediately went 'Hold on. Wait a second. What?'. I could've sworn this was Tails, but something was very wrong.

First of all, this fox was a _girl._ Wait, what? _She_ looked older than Tails should be, her fur was green, her bangs were thicker and not sticking up, and she was wearing clothes, but everything else...

"Tails?" I had no idea whether to think this was Tails or not. "Is that you?"

The fox nodded. I still wasn't sure, though I remembered how relieved I was when Tails recognized me after I got turned into a werehog. I decided to return the favor and trust him... her? Let's just go with him for now. 'Her' just sounds too weird.

"What happened to you, lil' buddy?" I asked.

"Well," Even his voice souned different. "I was working on an experiment, but it kinda backfired... I came to the junkyard to find parts for a machine to reverse the effects. The clothes were lying around here somewhere."

"But how did the workshop burn down?" I asked. Maybe he hadn't heard...

"What?!" Yup. He looked genuinely surprised and shocked. "The workshop burned down?! How did that happen? Why didn't the sprinkler system go off? What happened to the Tornado 2? Or the emerald radars? Is anything left?"

I shook my head. "Sorry, lil' bro." I said. "There was nothing left." I put a hand on his shoulder.

All of a sudden, I heard suspiciously familiar laughter coming from behind the same junk pile as before. Then Tails stepped out from behind the pile, laughing his head off, looking just like I remembered him! "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I just couldn't hold it in anymore. You actually fell for it, Sonic!"

I took my hand off the first 'Tails', who had started laughing too, and looked back and forth between the two of them, my eyes wide and my jaw on the ground. "What the-? How-? Tails, WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!"

"Well," He said, walking up to me. "This is Bangs. She's actually my..." He turned to this 'Bangs' character. "How many 'greats' would I use?"

"Don't bother." She replied. "Just go with distant."

"OK," He continued. "She's my distant cousin."

It took a second to realize what this meant. "Wait, you _actually_ found a blood relative to you?" I ran over and gave him a huge hug. "That's great, lil' bro! I'm so happy for you!"

"Yeah, it's great!" He replied after I let go of him. "And it turns out I'm-"

Bangs nudged him and gave him a look like 'Don't tell him.'

"Staying with her while I rebuild my workshop." He seemed to remedy from what he was going to say before. "I already knew it burned down."

I wanted to ask him what he wasn't telling me, but with that girl around, I knew he wasn't gonna say. So instead I went for "Promise me you'll be OK?"

"I promise!" He replied with a thumbs up and a grin that could've rivaled one of my best.

"One more question before I go." I said. "Why did this 'Bangs' girl-" I turned to her and narrowed my eyes. "-try to trick me?"

"I wanted to see if I could." She answered simply, grinning like a little troll. "And I did."

"You sure you're gonna be OK with her?" I asked Tails skeptically. He nodded, so I said "OK then, great to see ya bud. Take care!" And rushed off.

**I HAD SUCH WRITER'S BLOCK ON THIS SCENE! It seriously took me 4 months to get the gall to just write it already! Yes, this is the one I mentioned in Chapter 3.**

**But here it is. I'm keeping my poll up for another couple days because NO ONE HAS VOTED YET. I need someone to vote so I can decide what to do next! I don't have a set plot for this next chunk of story, so I need a bit of help here. Please vote, or even answer in a review. I'm sorry I've been sounding so beggy, but I kinda need this stuff. All that aside, hope you enjoyed the chapter (I particularly like it myself). TatlTails out. PEACE!**


	8. The Transition to Act 2

**I'm sorry! I haven't updated in, what? Almost 2 weeks? I know that's not too much, but I still don't like it. I have a feeling my updates will be like that. A few updates in quick succession, then a short hiatus. **

**This is a kind of transition chapter I whipped up last night. You'll notice now for this and later chapters, the parts between Tails and Bangs will be uneven. I'm not focusing on one character the whole story, it's just a chapter to chapter unevenness. But I'm sure you don't want to hear me babble on about this boring stuff. Go on, enjoy the chapter!**

**Tails**

After Sonic left, I turned to Bangs and asked her "Why couldn't I tell Sonic about the whole Cahill thing?"

She turned to me looking extremely serious. "I've already told you that the Cahills are a _secret_ society. Even and especially though there are only five Cahills left, it still needs to _stay_ secret. One more person who knows is one more person the Vespers are after. So you cannot tell Sonic about the Cahills. No matter what. He'd probably try and fail to fight the Vespers, getting captured, tortured for information, and more. You'll basically just put him in a lot more danger than he already deals with. So you can't tell him. Promise?"

I hated the idea of keeping secrets from Sonic, especially something so huge. But he probably would do what Bangs described. I didn't want him to get hurt because of this big thing I still had trouble believing I was a part of. So I agreed.

Afterwards, I grabbed the parts and tools we had collected and we flew back to Emerald Coast.

**Bangs**

Over the next few days, both Dagger and Tails were at their stations 24/7, working. If it weren't for me and Madi, they wouldn't have eaten. They barely slept, and only facedown on their desks.

Dagger's desk became cluttered with notepaper, scrawled notes in unintelligible scribbling that seemed to make perfect sense to him. He was mumbling to himself, checking notes and screens over and over. His eyes were glazed over. He hadn't even touched World of Warcraft since the night before I found Tails. He was researching that whole time. That's what scared me the most.

Tails was no better. He was hunched over his little clump of metal and wires constantly. He was less far gone than Dagger, though. He thanked me or Madi each time ne noticed food on his workbench. But it usually took a while. It was actually pretty funny when he'd thank us for his lunch after dinner time.

But the little machine was coming together, as far as I knew. It was getting bigger, at least. After three days it looked like a radar. By the time a week rolled by, it was done, according to him, but it could only sense the general area of the Chaos Emeralds. We all agreed that was good enough and to just quit while he was ahead.

The day after that, Dagger decided to save his sanity, as well as mine, and take a break from the research. He had found all but one of the remaining Clues. Pepper, Barley, Copper, Vinegar, Mace, Rosemary*, and Lily. He left the note on the fridge like a grocery list, complete with a cheery refrigerator magnet, which Madi found extremely funny.

After both the boys had a good night's sleep, enforced by _all_ us girls, we agreed to split the jobs. Me and Tails would go after the Emeralds, while Fang and Madi went after the Clues. Dagger would join them after he finished his research on the last Clue.

After Fang and Madi left on foot, Tails turned on his machine and the screen lit up. It had a dot over the jungle. He scowled a bit.

"This is less specific than I'd hoped." He said. "We might have to search overnight."

"I'll just pack some camping gear, then." I replied. "No need to get your tails in a twist."

He smiled a bit at that and I went to get the camping gear feeling accomplished.

***It is pure coincidence Tails' Archie mom has the same name as the Clue.**

**And there you have it! OMG I think this is my shortest one yet! BWAH! I feel all bad again. Anyway...**

**I kinda wanted Tails to search for Clues, too, but I'd be biting off more than I could chew then. Don't worry! The Clues will be important(I hope). **

**I appreciate those who have reviewed so far. The voters(I wish I could know who)are extra appreciated. The votes will be relevant in the next few chapters. They actually helped me string some of the plot ideas I had together. So thank you all. **

**I plan to post some new stuff *coughrelativelycough* soon, so be on the lookout! TatlTails out. PEACE!**


	9. The Storm and the Powers

**Chapter 9! A result of the first voter voting for Bangs! Actually, the first half of this was one of the first sequences I came up with for this story, the vote just helped me decide when to put it. Heh. **

**But I love this scene. Like, so much. It also has the second song guessing game! Because **_**so many **_**people cared about the first one. Well, I'm not gonna talk(type?) your ears(eyes?) off any longer. Enjoy!**

~**Tails**

Me and Bangs landed in the jungle and started searching for the Chaos Emerald. A few hours went by with no luck.

After a long time, I noticed the sky had gotten really cloudy. I winced inwardly and immediately started thinking "Please don't be a storm, please don't be a storm, _please_ don't be a-"

A loud crack of thunder interrupted and betrayed my wishes. I yelped and probably jumped a foot in the air. In my defense, it really surprised me, and my astraphobia is pretty bad.

Bangs turned around and asked "Tails, are you OK?"

I knew we had to keep searching, so I wiped the fear off my face and said "Yeah, I'm fine." Then a bolt of lightning had to come, making me wince, quickly followed by a big BOOM of thunder, which succeeded in making me cover my ears with my hands and squeeze my eyes shut.

"OK, I'm not fine." I replied to her 'oh, really?' look. "I kinda have astraphobia."

"Well, you kinda made that obvious." She smiled, then started thinking. She brightened up and turned to me. "I think I have a way to temporarily fix that."

"Really?" I asked.

"Uh huh." She replied. "But we need to set up camp before I do it." She looked at the sky. "And by the looks of it, we need to hurry."

We set up the tent as fast as possible and still ended up getting soaked, not to mention having to deal with the constant thunder and lightning that was slowly wearing away at my sanity the whole time.

"OK." Bangs said, clapping her hands once. "Get in your sleeping bag, because you're going to bed early. The song I'm using is a lullaby."

"_That's_ your big idea?" I asked in disbelief. "To just have me sleep through the storm?"

"Ah, ah, ah." She shook her finger at me like Sonic would. "I chose this song for a very good reason, oh ye of little faith. Just trust me on this."

"Well, it's not like I have any better options." I smirked grimly.

I got in the sleeping bag and gestured her to go on.

She cleared her throat and started the song. It must've been for small childern, because the first line was '_Little child, be not afraid_'_. _But it was mostly about rain. She sang quietly, but still clearly, and I could feel myself getting less and less scared, as well as more and more tired. As the song ended, I gave in and fell asleep.

~**Bangs**

I chuckled quietly as I watched Tails fall asleep. He didn't even make it through the first chorus. But I couldn't help but get all fuzzy inside at the peaceful smile on his face. There was no chance the thunder would wake him up.

It surprised me how close I already felt to him. I had only known him about a week and he already felt like my little brother. I was learning all sorts of stuff about him. The astraphobia was only one example. I was learning the way he talked and moved, the way he would answer a question, how his tails fluttered when he was excited and how his eyes sparkled when he got an idea.

Most people don't pay attention to those little things, but I do. It's the only way to truly know a person in an actress' eyes. And even though I still felt terrible about how it had to happen, I was really glad I found him.

"And at that note," I whispered to myself to snap out of my thoughts "I should go to sleep, too."

So I got into my own sleeping bag and drifted off to the sounds of the storm.

The next morning, I woke up before Tails. I had to shake him awake, actually. The song worked like a charm. We ate quickly and immediately afterwards started searching again. I noticed he would start coughing a bit at random times. I asked him about it, but he said he was fine, so I went back to looking.

After considerably less time than yesterday's search, we found the Chaos Emerald under an inconspicuous bush. It was the yellow one, in case anyone was wondering. We high-fived each other, then grabbed the sucker and bolted back to the plane.

Before he could jump in the cockpit I called out "Stop right there, bucko."

He looked rather confused. "Why?"

"I guess you forgot what I said before about Chaos Emeralds and Cahills." I playfully reprimanded him.

"What do you..." He trailed off, then brightened as he remembered. "Oh yeah! The superpowers thing. How do you make that work, anyway?"

"Well..." I tried to remember how I did it for myself. It was so long ago, long before I met the gang. "Have you ever noticed a kind of buzz in your brain when you're building stuff? Maybe when you get a new idea, or when you're on a roll?"

He thought about it for a bit. "I think so. I never really thought about it before."

"Good." I said. "Now, focus on the Chaos Emerald's energy and direct it to the spot in your brain the buzzing comes from."

He held the Chaos Emerald in both hands and closed his eyes. The emerald started to glow brightly. The light seemed to wrap around him, then it disappeared. He opened his eyes and said "Well? Did it work?"

"That's for you to say," I answered. "but from what I saw, I'd say yes."

"How am I supposed to tell?" He asked. "I don't feel any different."

"You just kinda have to wait until you notice something weird going on." I answered.

"Oh, _that_ sounds effecient." He grumbled under his breath.

"Let's just go." I said. "It's really muggy out here."

"Yeah." He agreed. "The air's making my nose stuffy."

We jumped in the plane, and I'll never forget what happened next.

**Tails**

I hopped into the Tornado's cockpit, got settled and went through the plane's checklist in my head. But as I reached for the first buttons on the list, I saw that they had already been pressed. I looked over the rest of the dashboard and saw that _all_ the buttons on the checklist had been pressed, without me even noticing.

"_Okaaay._" I thought to myself. "_That's weird. Guess I'll just start the plane..._"

Then the plane started up out of nowhere.

"Whoa!" I shouted.

"What's wrong?" Bangs asked from behind me.

"The plane started up." I answered.

"Yeah, so?" She asked.

"I didn't touch anything." I could barely get that out.

It only took a few seconds for her to say "Well, look at that! You've found one of your powers already! Technokiniesis! That's so sweet!"

"Technokinesis?" I asked incredulously. But I couldn't stop from ruefully chuckling as I said "Great. Just when I thought I couldn't get any freakier."

"Technokinesis is not freaky, it's awesome." She said sternly. "And so are you. Now fly us home, Mr. Awesome!"

Something about that little refrain cheered me up enough to do just that.

**OMC THIS IS LIKE MY LONGEST CHAPTER YET! And I pulled most of it out on the spot. I'm proud of it, though. **

**Tails got powers! The technokinesis is also something I planned early on. He's gonna get something else a bit later, thanking Jakeroo123 ahead of time for advice on it.**

**The next chapter will probably be shorter, and focus on Fang and Madi. A two-in-one feels a little cheaty to me, but that's how the plot-bunnies demand it. And poor Dagger! He was the only one not to get a vote! I feel bad for him.**

**Well, review if you liked it. Or if you didn't. Hope it's the first. TatlTails out. PEACE!**


	10. The Disease and the Stories

**Chapter 10 is finally here! I lied last chapter. This one'll just be for Madi. I'll write Fang's part next chapter, and Dagger's after that. I love this chapter. I'll save the reasons for the end so you can see for yourself. Oh, it's good to be back here!**

**Bangs**

Tails stayed up late that night trying to fix his radar so it was more precise. I couldn't even stay awake to see how long he worked. But he wasn't working by the time the rest of us woke up, so I assumed he got some sleep. But when I finally decided to wake him up so we could search for another Chaos Emerald, something was wrong.

He was laying on his back in the bed, deathly still besides his stomach moving with his breath. His eyes were closed, his face slightly scrunched up in pain, and his breathing was labored. The blankets were all scrunched around and wrinkled, but wrapped tightly around him. He was wheezing and moaning quietly.

"Uh oh." I ran out of the room. "FAAAANG! Tails is sick!"

I ran through the house, found Fang at the kitchen table, grabbed her by the arm and dragged her straight to Tails' bed, blocking out the yelling and protests to "Let go of my freaking arm, Bangs!".

But once she saw Tails, she tapered off to a quiet "Oooooh..."

She immediately shooed me out of the room and shut the door. I told the others what the hay was going on, then sat down at my desk and distracted myself in a drawing. I hate it when people get sick. Especially kids. I always feel so sorry for them.

After an indeterminable amount of time, Fang came back out and announced "Well, Tails is gonna be outta commision for a few days. He's got a cold. And a bad one at that."

"How bad?" I asked.

"At least three days bedrest bad."

"Oh. That's bad."

"Yeah. That's three days minimum he can't do any Emerald or Clue hunting."

"OK, so Tails can't search, and we can't all search and leave him alone. Someone needs to watch him. Dagger?"

He swiveled around to face us. "I can't do it. I won't do it. I'm kind of on a roll right now. But..." He looked at Fang. "How many Clues have you and Madi found so far?"

"Uhh..." She looked up and muttered to herself while counting her fingers. "Fffffooouurr? No. Five."

"Then you and Madi split up. One of you goes with Bangs to search for Chaos Emeralds and the other watches Miles while I get closer to finding out the final Clue."

"I'll stay."

We all turned to Madi, surprised she had spoken up so suddenly. "You sure?" I asked. "You don't want Fang to do the work?"

"I'm sure." She replied. "I want to stay and help Tails."

We all shared a look. Dagger shrugged. "I'll be here in case of disaster." He sent a Dagger glare to Madi. "But _only_ disaster."

"I did kinda want to find a Chaos Emerald." Fang admitted. "I'll make a list of stuff you'll need to do, Madi. You should be able to handle him."

"Then it's settled!" I said."Madi's gonna be a doctor and Fang's comin' with me!"

Fang's face paled a bit. "Oh, great." She facepalmed.

I pointedly ignored that. "C'mon, Madi. We'll tell Tails who he'll be bugging for the next few days."

She smiled wryly at me, grabbed Funshine and walked with me to Tails' room. We settled the situation with him, and I left a sick child in Madi's capable nine-year-old hands.

After all that, me and Fang grabbed Tails' Emerald radar and checked if it was together enough to work. Not only did it work, but the dot on the map was a good bit smaller than the first time. We shared a look and simultaneously said "Sweet." We rushed to the Tornado, which Tails only gave me permission to use when he couldn't, and set off toward Station Square.

**Tails**

I hate getting sick. I always feel so lousy that I can't even get out of bed, and I get so bored that I go crazy! Luckily, I was so tired I slept through most of the first day, which is always the worst. Then again, staying up all night is probably what got me so sick in the first place. Egh. Madi had decided to look after me instead of going out to find Chaos Emeralds, which I found surprising. I'd choose Chaos Emeralds over tissues any day.

When I woke up the next morning I immediately knew I was gonna get bored quickly, so the first time Madi came in I begged her to stay and talk to me before I went insane. I may have been a bit overdramatic. Madi gave me a wary look, then ran out of the room, came back in with a chair and sat down.

"Thanks." I coughed. "I can't talk much. My throat hurts. It's your turn to tell me stories."

She told all the funny stories she had acquired living with the Cahill gang, like the time Dagger heard Bangs singing Witch Doctor in the shower (Fang had to hold him captive until the song wore off), how for a whole month Funshine would insist on sitting on Fang's head whenever she worked out (they never found out why), and the time all three of the older foxes were stuck on a puzzle in a video game and Madi figured it out in three minutes (they insist on her being around whenever any of them play a video game now), among many more.

She barely stuttered at the beginning, and by the time she finished she wasn't stuttering at all. I laughed like crazy, ending in coughing fits most times, but they were so worth it. These guys went through some funny stuff.

Eventually she said "That's all the stories I've got. You're gonna have to give me something to talk about now."

"Well," I cleared my throat "I wondered why you wanted to be stuck with me instead of going to find Chaos Emeralds."

Her mood darkened a bit and she slumped in her chair, looking down. She spoke quietly again, but the stutter was still conquered. "I didn't want to go."

"But why not?"

Instead of answering right away, she leaned out the door and called for Funshine. The chao floated in and landed in Madi's lap, chaoing consolingly. Madi sighed and continued talking, absently petting Funshine's head. "I never like going. Bad things happen when any of us leave home. And even when they don't, I'm scared they will. That's why I try to go out as little as possible. I... hate living like that. In constant fear." She looked up at me, tears in her eyes. She spoke louder than before, the emotion in her voice clear. "If I had the choice, I would have nothing to do with any of this. I hate it. It scares me so much. But I'm stuck in this dangerous, lonely life with no parents and a mission to do what my entire branch has been trying to prevent for centuries. The only up side is that I at least get to know Dagger, Fang, Bangs, and you."

I didn't know what to say to something so sad, so we just sat in silence for a minute before I managed "Thanks, for... y'know... telling me that."

"Yeah." She mumbled. "No problem. Maybe I... shouldn'tve told you that, though... I think I'm gonna... go... for now. Yeah, uhh... bye."

She rushed out of the room, pretty comically if not for the situation, and silence reigned. But I was OK with it this time. I had a lot to think about.

**OH MY HYLIA I CAN'T BELIEVE I JUST WROTE THAT! Seriously, that was a LOT better than I thought it'd be. I'm just speechless. You're lucky I'm typing. The feeeeels! I didn't think I could be deep like that. Anyway, the last story of Madi's I wrote actually happened to a friend of mine and his friends. Also expect Fang's part soon, and Dagger's part. You guys may not have voted for him, but I am positively PSYCHED for his part. I love loving what I write! With my oozing enthusiasm out of the way, TatlTails out. PEACE!**


	11. The Second Power

**Chapter 11! So soon? It seems I really am back! I like being on a roll. **

**I've noticed that I'm focusing on Bangs less. I think that's actually a good thing. This is Tails' journey, and I'm treating it as such. **

**If you're worried this is getting boring, the action starts back up next chapter. WOW, I'm really hyping up that chapter. I guess I was just miffed that nobody voted Dagger, and now I'm taking it out on the whole internet by stuffing him in all your faces. **

**Without further ado(what is 'ado', anyway? How is that a noun you can have 'further' of or not?), enjoy! **

**Bangs**

That radar thing is AWESOME! Me and Fang found _four_ Chaos Emeralds in two days! Compared to our group's previous record of zero Chaos Emeralds before we got that thing, everyone's minds were kinda blown. Except Tails, who actually found that a bit slow. Can you believe him?

Fang was in the zone collecting those Emeralds. She was climing things and lifting stuff and she fought a grumpy hedgehog named Shadow for the one he had. It was obvious she was happy to be doing something new. But even she got tired after two days worth of adventure with minimal sleep, so we decided to take the next day off to rest and give Madi a break from Tails.

We got back in the late afternoon of the second mission day. When we walked in the door, Madi was sitting in her armchair, hugging Funshine and staring into space. It looked like she had been crying a bit. I immediately went into maternal mode and rushed over to her, asking "Are you OK? What happened? Why were you crying?" and the like.

She still sounded sad, but she said "I'm fine. I was just thinking. Tails is fine, too, in case you were wondering."

"OK," I was still doubtful, but I asked "So, how was taking care of Tails?"

She perked up a bit. "He didn't do much yesterday, but today I saved him from insanity by telling him all the funny stuff we've done."

Dagger's head jolted up and he turned to Madi. "You didn't tell him about The Incident, did you?"

"What, you mean the time you fell in lo-"

"Don't even say it!" Dagger swiveled back around and slumped to his desk in defeat, groaning miserably.

I knelt down to Madi's level and muttered "I love that story as much as you do, but just for Dagger's sake, you miiiight not wanna tell it anymore."

She whispered back "At least I didn't post it on the internet or anything."

I giggled. "Yeah, that would _ruin_ him."

**Oops.**

Fang jumped into the conversation with "Hey, Madi. If you don't wanna take care of Tails tomorrow, I'll do it."

I thought Madi would've refused, but she nodded and said "I think that'd be a good idea."

Me and Fang looked at each other, raised an eyebrow each, and turned back to Madi. "Really?"

She nodded and said "I think I'm gonna head to bed early." She faked a yawn and bolted for her room. The stupid yawn was enough to make both me and Fang feel the effects of exhaustion hit us full force. After Fang peeked in on Tails, also asleep, we both headed for well-deserved rest.

**Tails**

The morning after the awkward conversation with Madi, Fang came in saying she'd be in charge of me for the day. I didn't even know she and Bangs had come back, but it didn't surprise me that Madi didn't want to face me just yet.

She spent the morning telling me about each Chaos Emerald they found and how they got them. I facepalmed when I heard who she had fought to get the green one. "Y'know, I know that guy. If you had called me, I could've saved you a lot of pain."

"Eh, where's the fun in that?" She shrugged. "He was fun to fight. I beat him, anyway."

"You WHAT?!" I shot up to a sitting position. I was lucky my throat was one of the first things to heal, or it never would've forgiven me for yelling like that.

"I beat him. He wasn't that scary." She sounded so nonchalant about it.

"You. Fought _Shadow. _And WON?!" I flopped back down in astonishment. "Congratulations, Fang. You are now the second person in all of history to ever do so, Sonic himself being the first!"

She shrugged again. "What can I say? Fighting's in my blood. But to get back on track... Actually, that was the last one we got, so I'm out of stuff to tell you."

I sighed. "Then would you mind getting me some of my supplies? Hearing about Shadow reminded me of something cool I made a while ago. I wanna try and recreate it."

She crossed her arms suspisciously. "Is it big?"

"No."

"Is it time-consuming?"

"Not really."

"Will it tire you out to make it?"

"Most likely not."

She paused for a second. "What is it?"

"Do you really wanna know?" I returned. "I gotta warn you, I tend to rant in what Sonic coined 'technobabble' without even realizing it. You might range from annoyance to a full-blown headache."

She blew up at that. "What? You think just because I'm a Tomas that my feeble mind won't be able to comprehend your _amazing_ intellect?!"

"No, it's not like that at all!" I tensed up in fear. She was starting to scare me. "Like I said, I rant! I talk so fast sometimes _I_ can barely understand myself, and I use a lot of terms most people've never heard of. Even people who know tons about mechanics and technology have no idea what I'm saying when I get on a roll. I once almost made my friend Knuckles pass out just by explaining some modifications I made to an Extreme Gear! I never meant to insult your intelligence. I just didn't want to subject you to technobabble without proper warning."

Luckily, she believed me and calmed down. She coughed once and said "Right. Sorry for blowin' up then. Try me anyway."

"OK..." I was hesitant, but I started explaining anyway. "There was this one time me, Sonic and Knuckles worked as a direct team to stop Eggman and Metal Sonic, along with three other teams of three. During that time I had made a pair of gloves that could use the electromagnetic currents of static electricity to effectively turn anything I held and threw into a temporary boomerang. They were handy for throwing Sonic and Knuckles at robots while I was carrying them. I figured if I-"

I was interrupted by a sneeze. Stupid cold. I blew my nose into a tissue, but when I threw the thing at the trash bin in the corner, it hit the rim, then came _right back to me_ and stuck to my hand for a second before dropping onto the bed. When I looked at it closely, it was sparking slightly with yellow electricity.

Obviously unaware of my completely flabbergasted expression, Fang said "Well, look at that, you're already wearing them! Now you don't have to make 'em!"

I turned to her and shook my head. "No, I outgrew those gloves a few months ago. These are just normal gloves." I held up my hands for emphasis. Then it dawned on me. My head fell back and my hands dropped. "Duh, this is another superpower, isn't it?"

"Looks like it."

"But how could an invention I came up with be in my DNA as the same ability?"

She thought for a bit. "The idea of the power was probably in your subconscious your whole life. One day, it wormed into the rest of your brain and you decided to invent something that could do that. Just a ballpark guess. I'm not you, after all. Can't determine what's specifically in your brain. But it's plausible." Her face morphed from contemplation to confusion. "The really weird thing is that you got another ability so quickly. Usually it takes years for someone to get a second ability. Me and Dagger have more than one ability, for example, but Bangs and Madi only have one."

"Really?" That was kinda interesting. "Maybe it's because I'd already been subjected to Chaos Energy before I used it to get superpowers."

"You had?"

I nodded. "A couple times. But Sonic's used Chaos Energy a lot."

I spent the rest of the afternoon telling her about each adventure that had called for Sonic to turn Super. By the time I was done, the sun had gone down and I was ready to collapse, so Fang left with a goodnight and I fell asleep.

**Welp! I'd call that a productive chapter! I think. I like it. Hopefully whatever Fang fans are out there liked it, too. I know there's at least one out there! (3 I got a lot of stuff explained. That power is what jakeroo123 helped out on, so thanks again! I also have a story excuse for me not being able to come up with a second power for Bangs! And Madi's powers could easily be viewed as one joint power. Aaaand now I'm rambling. Hope you liked it. TatlTails out. PEACE!**

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**PS: I'm gonna make a sequel to this someday. Maybe soon. Wanna hint? Three words: Cahills vs. Vespers.**


	12. The Capture and The Rescue PART 1

**If you checked out the chapter name (like no one does without proper prompting), you'll see something interesting. That's right! I'm splitting up Dagger's chapter INTO TWO CHAPTERS! **

**And not because I'm getting obsessed with him, even though I kind of am. But because a VERY BIG THING is about to happen in this chapter. A VERY BIG THING! So big that one event needs multiple chapters! I don't think Ive ever done that.**

**Disclaimer(first one in a while): I do not own the Lich King. He's from World of Warcraft. Or Adventure Time, whichever you prefer (3. I also do not own Skype.**

**Again, Bangs' part is small. If you somehow like Bangs' parts more (I'd say you're a weirdo, but that's just insulting my own OC-making abilities), then suck it up and embrace the Tailsyness. ...And by that I mean enjoy!**

**Bangs**

The next morning Tails insisted that he felt well enough to stop being coddled by us. Fang checked and confirmed he was right, but he still wasn't well enough to go anywhere. Basically, it meant we had three sets of hands on the job instead of two.

Madi really wanted to make sure Tails was gonna be fine. She kept asking "Are you sure Tails will be OK by himself?"

When she asked that question, again, right before we were ready to leave, I chuckled and put an arm around her shoulders. "He'll be fine, Madi. Now, c'mon. We have some work to do." She called Funshine and we set off.

We spent the day getting the last few Clues besides the mystery Clue Dagger still hadn't figured out. The previous generations _really_ must've gone to great lengths to keep that Clue hidden.

It was early afternoon when we got the last Clue we knew of, so we agreed to try and knock a Chaos Emerald off our to-do list before the day ended. The radar pointed to Emerald Hill. It seemed there were two Chaos Emeralds there. We could finish our job today!

We rushed to Emerald Hill ecstatic at that thought. When we got close to the energy signature, though...

"Oh, crud!"

"Th-th-that's..."

"Eggman's base?!"

The three of us were paralyzed by the sheer massiveness and hostility of the steel citadel that looked so tragically out of place in the beautiful meadows of Emerald Hill. Fancy vocabulary aside, that thing was HUGE! At least ten stories high, as wide as it was long, giant smokestacks scattered throughout and robot guards going in and out like they were ants in an anthill!

"P-please tell me we're n-not going in there." Madi must've been really terrified if she was stuttering again.

"No. We're definitely not." I put my hand on her shoulder and rubbed it soothingly, never taking my eyes off the base. "At least, not without the boys."

We all turned around to head back, and were face-to-face with at least _ten_ eight-foot-tall robots. They were roundish, and armed, and such a tacky shade of orange. We turned back, and just as many were on the other side.

As they started to circle in on us, Madi shakily grabbed Funshine and said "I need you to find the boys. Tell them where we are, and tell them to come save us. But you need to hurry, girl. Go now!"

She tossed the chao above the robots and the little thing shot off like a rocket. With no time to waste, too. The robots closed in on us and knocked us out, one by one.

**Tails**

"Are you kidding me?" I could hear Dagger from my room. "_Are you _kidding me? YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!"

I got out of bed, actually quite glad to have an excuse to do so, and rushed out to the main room to see what the hay he was shouting about.

He spotted me as soon as I got out and immediately took the opportunity to yell at someone instead of just air. "You are never going to believe this! Gideon Cahill is the BIGGEST TROLL IN ALL OF HISTORY! You wanna know what the last Clue is? It's THE REST OF THE SERUM FORMULA!"

I couldn't help it. I knew it was just about the worst thing I could've done, but I did it anyway. I laughed. I thought I was just gonna crack up and chuckle a bit, but I ended up rolling on the floor with tears in my eyes.

"This is not funny!" He shouted "I was on that computer day and night for almost TWO WEEKS STRAIGHT, reading and comparing and puzzling over things written hundreds, sometimes THOUSANDS of years ago! I lost so much sleep just trying to find that stupid ingredient, and what does it end up being? Not it's own ingredient, nooohoho, it _had_ to be a liiiittle bit of ALL THE OTHER INGREDIENTS! But here's the kicker! It's not the entire formula! Nooo, we'd better not make the EASY TO MAKE mistake of including the other Madrigal ingredients in that formula! It HAS to be the first version of the serum, which would be poisonous without the stupid Madrigal Clues that I spent TWO WEEKS LOOKING FOR!"

I laughed for a bit longer, because that rant was funnier than the first one. But I calmed down and said "Well, hey, at least you found it now."

That somehow got through to him. He took a breath and smiled a bit. "Yeah." He hesitated there, like he kinda didn't want to say the next bit. "I guess you're right." He flopped onto the couch and mumbled "I never want to sit in that chair again."

Right about then was when a rogue chao named Funshine busted through the front door. She bumped into me, making me fall over, and rushed up to Dagger and started shaking his shoulders and chaoing frantically. When she only got a bewildered "What the Lich King, you freakish chao?" from him, she came up to me and repeated her actions.

I tried to calm her down, but it was hard trying to talk over her. "Fun-(chao)Funshine, (chao ch-chao) I can't (chaaao) under(chao)stand you." She stopped shaking me and hung her head in... despair, it looked like. Unusual for a chao.

"But..." An idea came to me. "I know someone who can." I turned to Dagger. "Hey!" He lifted his head just enough to see me. "Does that computer of yours have a webcam?"

It took me less than five minutes to figure out Dagger's computer, get the whole thing set up on Skype, and contact Cream. Just before she was ready to chat, I turned to Dagger and said "Unless you want to explain the entirety of the Cahills to an innocent eight-year-old, I'd suggest you stay out of the camera's line of sight."

He got out of the way just as the webcam screen came to life, showing Cream and Cheese in their backyard. "Hello, Tails!"

"Hi, Cream."

Her face showed confusion. "That place doesn't look familiar. Where are you?"

"It's a long story. I'll tell you another time. But right now, I need a really big favor from you."

"Of course. What do you need?"

"I need you to translate a chao for me, and not ask any questions about what she says. Can you do that?"

"Sure, Tails."

"Thank you! OK, here she is." Funshine floated up next to me. I muttered to her "Just tell her what you need to say, but try not to use any Cahill terminologies."

She gave her spiel of chaos to Cream, who nodded and 'mm-hmm'ed at random times. Once, she said "Oh, my!". Once she was done, Cream furrowed her brow and said "I know what she said, but I don't really understand."

"Doesn't matter." I replied. "Can you tell me anyway?"

"Oh! Yeah. She said 'The girls got captured by robots. They're in a scary base in Emerald Hill. You and Dagger need to save them. Please hurry.''

My eyes widened. "Oh, no."

"What does she mean?"

Again, I had to lie to a close friend. I swear, that was the worst thing about being in this business. "It's nothing. I'll tell you later. But I gotta go. Thanks again. Really appreciate it. Bye!"

I cut off the connection and slumped down in Dagger's plexiglass chair. I looked up at the ceiling and shouted to no one "I hate doing that!"

Dagger walked out from the hallway he had been in and asked a bit mockingly "You hate doing what?"

"Lying! Especially to some of my closest friends. I even had to lie to my brother just to keep this stupid secret!"

Behind his eyes, there was.. I dunno, something not quite as jerkish, as he said "Well, if our plan works, you won't need to keep it a secret anymore."

Relief flooded into me at that statement. "Good."

"Now, if I heard right," He continued calmly. "The girls, the closest people I have to family, are in the hands of Dr. Eggman, which translates to the _Vespers_, and therefore are in MORTAL DANGER! WHY ARE WE STILL EVEN HERE?! We need to go SAVE THEM NOW!"

"Right! Of course! Let's go." I stood up, then paused. "Aaand they took the plane, didn't they?"

"Yes, they did."

I hung my head back and groaned. After a second, I pulled myself together and said "Right! Time for Plan B."

I looked Dagger over. "You seem close to Sonic's weight. And Emerald Hill is about..." I worked out the rest in my head, enjoying the baffled look on Dagger's face. "OK! This should be doable. I'm gonna fly us to Emerald Hill."

His baffled look just grew. "But the girls took your plane."

I pulled off a pretty big troll grin. I could tell he hadn't heard of me before, which was a bit relieving. "Now, when did I say anything about a plane?"

**I enjoyed ending that there.**

**Sorry that Dagger's second rant is so long. I can't bear to mess with it. I came up with a stupid theory while writing that rant, that maybe all Cahill men rant. Dagger in anger, and Tails in excitement. See what I mean? If I remember right (I probably don't), Dan Cahill would rant a bit like Dagger did. So, yeah.**

**Also, I made Cream eight cause I made Tails ten. Kinda obvious, but I wanted to say it. She might be in the sequel. Read up on Cahills vs. Vespers and try to guess who I'm making her (Hint: I can't believe I even came up with it.)**

**Be prepared for Part 2! The boys attempt their rescue of the girls! And I'm not sexist. I'm a girl myself. I can't wait to write it! TatlTails out. PEACE!**


	13. The Capture and the Rescue PART 2

**I'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorry! **

**I know, I haven't updated in forever. It's just, I got some Writer's Block, then an anti-writing slump, then a Hetalia obsession (which I'm trying to get out of), then I **_**finally**_** got some Writer's Boom yesterday, which created the chapter you see before you.**

_**When the writing looks like this outside an Author's Note, Dagger is using his charmspeaking. And yes, I call it charmspeaking. I'm a Rick Riordan fan, sue me.**_

**I can't think of much more to say than enjoy the chapter!**

**Tails**

I have to give Dagger his props. Even though he was being flown high above the ground with only a ten-year-old's skinny hands and spinning tails keeping him from his doom, and I could tell he was totally freaking out on the inside, he acted pretty calm.

Until we landed and he started hugging the ground.

Since the sun had gone down and we had the cover of night on our side, I gave him a well-deserved minute. After it was up, he was back on his feet with a deadpanned "We will never speak of that again" and we set off toward the base.

I knew this base pretty well. It was one of Eggman's favorites, especially back in the day. Since Dagger didn't, I led him to the best scouting spot for the area; a set of thick bushes at the edge of the clearing, where we could see the front entrance, but no one could see us. Sonic had found the spot years ago, but Eggman still didn't know about it.

As soon as the base was in sight, Dagger went into some sort of 'strategy mode', eyes searching everything like he was a secret agent. He broke out of it for a second as we approached the bushes to mutter "Not a bad spot, Miles," then went back to scanning the base with his eyes like he was some sort of supercomputer.

He held a staring contest with the base for another few minutes, while I tried to come up with a plan of my own. Eventually, he turned to me and hurriedly asked "Hey. Miles. Bangs told me you have techno powers, is this true?"

"It's _Tails_," I corrected. I was not going to be called Miles within close proximity to Eggman, poison or not. "And yes it is, though I have little to no experience with them."

"Good. Can you tell whether those security cameras are color or not?"

I rolled my eyes at that. "I can do that without 'techno powers'." I squinted at the cameras near the entrance. "Those are Eggman's black and white cameras. He usually only uses one type of camera per base, so they should all be the same. Why?"

When I looked back at Dagger, he was taking off his jacket with one hand and spiking up his bangs with the other. He spotted me staring at the odd sight and said "Give me your shoes."

"_Why_ would you need my-"

"_**Just give me your shoes!**_"

He must've done something with his voice, because before I knew it my shoes were being handed to him. He handed me his jacket in exchange.

I took it, still confused, and said "One, whatever you just did, please never do it to me again. Two, you didn't answer my question, why do you need my shoes?"

He sighed a long-suffering sigh, even though he hasn't suffered me very long. "If those cameras are black and white like you say, then we can fool Eggman into thinking we're each other. We look similar enough."

I looked him over. With his hair stuck up and his jacket off, he did look pretty much like an older, red me. It was kinda creepy.

"I'll look like you and cause a distraction, fighting robots and such. Eggman will concentrate on me since he'll think I'm you, AKA his long-time enemy. You'll look like me, so Eggman won't find two of you on the cameras and get suspiscious, and sneak into the control room. There, you can do your Ekat nerd thing-"

"I resent that."

"I don't care. You'll shut off all the cameras, find where the girls are, and shut off whatever else is in that base. Then we'll rendevous, free the girls, and escape. If they're hurt or something, we can find where they parked your plane and fly them back."

"That..." I trailed off for a second, mulling the plan over in my head. "Is actually a good plan."

"Of course it's a good plan." He almost sounded offended under that pride. "I'm the best plan maker currently alive. Plans are to me what mechanics is to you. Now, put on my stuff."

He kicked off his shoes and slid them to me, while he comically started squeezing his feet into my shoes. A Mobian's feet don't grow as much as a human's, so he was able to get them on, barely. I tried on his shoes as well. They were definitely loose, but they fit enough to not fall off my feet.

I slid on the baggy (on me, at least) blazer as he finished with the shoes. Then he immediately reached for my head and started combing down my bangs with his fingers.

"Hey, stop that!" I pulled away from the random personal space invasion.

Another long-suffering sigh. "I'm just getting your cartoonish bangs to stay down at a reasonable level." He then proceeded to rake his fingers through my hair again.

"It's not gonna work." I warned him. "I've tried many times over the years, and it never works."

He ignored me. A couple seconds later, "Aaaand done."

I looked in the shiniest thing I could find, which was Dagger's overly-polished shoes, and lo and behold, he had actually done it! I just looked back up at him and said "You must be some kind of miracle worker."

"I know." Well, that just fed his ego.

Then Dagger set off into the base and started smashing robots. I waited a minute or so, then snuck in myself.

**Bangs**

We'd woken up a couple hours ago, tied to chairs that had been circled up like we were playing musical chairs or something. I was facing Eggman and his stupid computers, Fang was facing a blank corner, and Madi was facing the door.

Madi was the first of us to wake up. Her whimpering was what woke me up, and Fang woke a few minutes later. As soon as she did, she started yelling and threatening and cursing Eggman out so badly that he had a robot gag her.

Not wanting my only power rendered useless, I stayed quiet in case he'd do the same to me. Madi was so scared she couldn't talk even if she wanted to.

We had tried to break the ropes many times, but they were really strong and extremely well-knotted. Stupid ropes. They had really gotten on my nerves by now.

I was so bored. I hadn't said a word since I woke up. Fang had tired herself out trying to yell through the gag and was now pouting. Or seething. Hard to tell with her sometimes. Madi hadn't stopped trembling for hours, which couldn't be healthy.

We had been here so long, Eggman had actually fallen asleep at his chair. Chaos, he was an idiot. And his snoring was grating on my ears.

I was so booored. I looked around for something, _anything_ to relieve my boredom, and my eyes settled on the computers. It seemed most of them weren't computers. They were security monitors. I could see robots patrolling the halls, aaand not much else.

'Well, it's better than nothing.' I thought. Then I saw something that was definitely not a robot. My jaw dropped. 'Is that...?'

The stupid cameras being black and white made it hard to tell, but it looked like Tails. At least that's what I thought, until I saw him actually beat some robots.

He clawed and kicked at the 'bots with a ruthless glint in his eye, aiming right for their weak spots. That fighting style was familiar. He was fighting like a Lucian. That wasn't Tails, it was Dagger! A grin spread over my face before I even knew it. He had come for us!

That joy was short lived, however, because the alarms started going off. That woke Eggman so harshly, he toppled out of his chair. He recovered surprisingly quickly and raced to his monitors. He immidiately spotted 'Tails', growled maliciously, grabbed a microphone and shouted "All troops to Sector 3! Get that fox brat by any means nessecary!"

My heart sunk a bit. I looked away from Dagger's screen, not trusting myself to look. My eyes found their way to the monitor for the control room. I passed over it, then did a double take. There was someone in there, too! A smaller fox in a baggy blazer, looking all too at home.

Dagger's plans never cease to amaze me.

Eggman wasn't even glancing at any other screens. He was cheering at the Dagger vs. Robot Army screen like it was the Superbowl! He had even made popcorn!

I shook my head shamefully at him and looked back at the control room. Tails was walking up to what looked like the main computer. He put his hands on the control panel and froze. A second later, all the cameras shut off!

The first thing Eggman said was "Aww, I was watching that!". Then he shouted "Wait, _what?!_ How did this happen?!" and began typing furiously at the keyboard in front of him, grumbling to himself. He was at this for a few minutes, getting so into it he didn't hear the door open. All three of us did, though, and Madi gasped.

I craned my neck to see what she was looking at. It was the boys! Hehe, they both looked so cute dressed like each other. I was never going to let Dagger live this down.

They both looked nervously at Eggman, then Dagger spelled something in sign language. C, O, D, E, B, A, N, G, S.

I gasped when I got it, then grinned devilishly. Finally, being silent would pay off. I nodded at the boys, who plugged their ears, then turned back to Eggman. I took a deep breath, and...

_"I'm gonna reach for the staaaars_

_although they loook pretty faaaar!"_

I sang my hardest. Eggman was out pretty quickly, but I sang the rest of the song for good measure. The boys rushed over and untied us. Then I realized, we had been tied up. The other girls' hands had been unable to reach their ears. And they were extremely close to me.

"Every time! Every time I sing that song, someone gets knocked out unintentionally!"

"It's fine." Tails said. "We'll just fly them home on the Tornado."

"Which is only a two-seater."

"...We'll work it out when we get there. For now, let's get out while Eggman's down."

I grabbed Fang and Tails grabbed Madi. Dagger was too tuckered out from fighting all those robots, so he just followed us.

Tails lead the way through the base, then after we got outside I lead the way to the plane. It was a good bit away, so no one had touched it, thank goodness.

We laid down the still-unconscious foxes (yeeeah, I think I sang a bit too hard) and looked at the plane.

"OK." Tails announced. "I think I've worked something out. Fang can sit in the back, and we should be able to put Madi in her lap. But only one person can fit in the pilot's seat, so I'm gonna have to fly one of you back myself." I didn't get it, wasn't he going to fly all of us back?

Apparently Dagger did get it, because his eyes widened in sheer terror for a second. He never liked showing emotion for more than that. After the second, he piped up "Well, it's not going to be me!"

Tails chuckled at that. "Fine." He then turned to me. "I guess that leaves you, then."

"For what?"

"For this." He started spinning his tails like they were helicopter blades. They got really, _really_ fast, then he jumped in the air and _stayed_ there. My jaw dropped for the second time today. He chuckled and stopped spinning his tails, letting himself fall. "I'll carry you and fly back."

I was silent for a minute, to build dramatic tension. I love dramatic tension. Then I said "That... looks AWESOME! I'll _gladly_ do it!"

"Great!" He smiled. "That leaves Dagger the pilot's seat."

"But I can't fly a plane." He said.

Tails thought for another minute. Then his face brightened up. "I think I've got it! Lemme try something!"

He walked up to the plane and put his hand on it. We could hear the clicks and whirs of things turning on. Tails slowly backed away, his hand leaving the plane's hull, his face screwed up in concentration. The plane roared to life, its engine purring.

"Whoa!" He shouted. "I actually did it!"

He looked so happy I wanted to tear up. But instead we piled Fang and Madi into the passenger's seat and Dagger lifted himself into the pilot's seat.

Tails turned to me. "I'm gonna have to concentrate really hard to fly myself _and_ fly the plane, so you're gonna have to do most of the holding on."

"Got it." I acted like that totally didn't make me nervous for my life at all.

He spun his tails and jumped again, going higher this time, and reached down with both arms. I grabbed them with as much of a death grip as I could manage, and he returned it. His grip loosened slightly as the plane lifted off, _without a pilot_. Seriously, you don't know how awesome that is until you see it with your own eyes!

He managed to keep the plane and himself in the air and going forward all the way home. By the time he got there, he was ready to collapse, the poor dear. Me and Dagger dragged him to bed (I think he fell asleep before we even reached it), then repeated the process for Madi, Fang, and ourselves. What a hectic day, huh?

**That was my longest chapter by far. I confirmed it. I feel awesome about it. **

**What'd you guys think? Did you love it? Did you hate it? Were you mildly impressed? **

**Honestly, I'm running out of things to say. I guess I could say Merry Christmas (Happy Hannukah, Happy Kwaanza, etc.) a bit early, in case I don't have another chapter before the holidays.**

**Happy whatever you celebrate, all you happy people! TatlTails out. PEACE!**


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